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Klis: Broncos remain haunted by "stumble" against Ravens

Denver Broncos cornerback Chris Harris almost intercepts a pass in overtime against the Baltimore Ravens during their AFC Divisional playoff game on January 12, 2013. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

INDIANAPOLIS — Nothing has worked.

It has been six weeks and three days since Joe Flacco threw a 50-yard flyball that was so high, it twisted Rahim Moore into Bill Buckner by the time it came down.

Yet, I still can't stop thinking about it.

I'm not bothered by the 50-yard pass, which became a 70-yard touchdown catch-and-run by Jacoby Jones, turning a 35-28 Broncos playoff victory into a 38-35 double-overtime defeat.

The problem is, I remain stunned by how it happened. Time has scratched the scalp raw.

I know in the week afterward, I pleaded with Broncos fans to get over it. To eat a piece of coconut cream pie, go to church and let it go.

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Jacoby Jones makes a catch on the way to a touchdown in front of the Broncos' Rahim Moore late in the fourth quarter of the AFC Divisional playoff game on January 12, 2013. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

But as I tell my kids, do as I say, not as I do. I watched Flacco throw three touchdown passes to earn the Super Bowl MVP trophy, and all I kept thinking about was The Stumble.

At the NFL scouting combine, I watched draft-eligible players leap up and whack those plastic rungs in the standing-vertical-jump drill, and where is my head? I kept wondering how Moore, a marvelous athlete, performed this drill. I looked it up, and wouldn't you know it, he did well. Moore tied for second among all safeties at the 2011 combine with a vertical leap of 35 inches.

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Yet, as I looked closer at The Pass (from Flacco's perspective) or The Stumble (from Moore's point of view) and asked questions, it became clear Moore was only one of four Broncos who blundered on the play. He made the most critical mistake. But just as Buckner had company in pitcher Bob Stanley (wild pitch), catcher Rich Gedman (or should it have been ruled a passed ball?) and manager John McNamara (where was Buckner's defensive replacement, Dave Stapleton?) in the blame game, Moore was not alone.

The problem was not, as some pundits have said, the coverage scheme. Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio called for a 3-5-3 formation, which is the customary shell coverage that is supposed to protect against the sideline pass to stop the clock and the deep pass to score a touchdown.

The 3-5-3: three pass rushers, five "defensive backs" (which included linebacker Wesley Woodyard covering the short middle) and three safeties. That's right, there were supposed to be three safeties deep. It just never looked that way.

Here were the Broncos' culprits on the play, in sequence:

1. Robert Ayers. Lined up in the middle of the defensive line, Ayers tried to escape heavy traffic by using a spin move to the left. That left an open middle alley for Flacco to run up and take not one, not two, not three, but four steps before his heave.

Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Stokley, left, and wide receiver Eric Decker leave the field after the Broncos lost to the Ravens in overtime. ( AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

2. Tony Carter. Playing left corner on Jones, Carter had two choices: Jam the receiver on the line, or release downfield and stay with him. Carter did neither. He was caught in between. Jones got a free release off the line, and then Carter stopped running, leaving the rest of Jones' route for Moore to cover.

3. Jim Leonhard. The veteran safety was responsible for the middle third of the field. But on third-and-3, the ball on the Ravens' 30 and 41 seconds remaining when Matt Birk flicked his shotgun snap, Leonhard figured Flacco would go for the first down, not the touchdown.

As the pass floated deep, Leonhard was not in the vicinity to drift over and help Moore on what should have been a jump ball. In fact, the closest defensive back to Moore was David Bruton, who had the far-right side of deep coverage.

4. Moore. Like Leonhard, he first anticipated a first-down throw.

"On a play like that, you're hoping for a PI," Flacco told me at the Super Bowl, referring to pass interference. "But I saw the safety level off."

Jones got behind Moore. Then Moore started backpedaling instead of running back. His feet weren't set, then got tangled, and his aborted vertical leap was about 33 inches shy of his combine effort. It was not an easy ball to catch, and Jones didn't get enough credit for keeping his focus.